Desert Cliffs has no guests to hike with this week. tear
And now I am catching myself reflecting back to the 2 previous weeks we enjoyed of extreme hiking.
And more specifically Im thinking of a particular guest...remember me speaking of Jorge?

I admit...we at Desert Cliffs enjoy the company of outstanding people. I can count on one hand the 'downer' guests. But thats a tale for another time.
For the last 2 weeks we had the pleasure and honor of entertaining and being entertained by dear Jorge. Jorge is the consummate gentleman.
I have been enlightened these last 2 weeks...with a concise and interesting history of Switzerland and the Swiss Guard. I've learned the benefits of swabbing ones feet with a solution of formaldehyde to thicken the skin. Ive enjoyed a beautiful window into life in Bozeman, Montana and around the world. I've heard the story of his sweethearts' escape from Germany as a young women...and on and on it went. I never tired of listening and learning from Jorge.
Here is a gentleman with great wealth...but he never wore it on his sleeve.
He is highly educated...but never flaunted it. (a PHd in Organic Chemistry)
He had great standing in the corporate world...but I learned this only through deduction.
How grateful I am that there are so many good and dear, generous people on the planet. People that make this world a better place....because they can and because they set out to do so.

OH yea---did i forget to mention that Jorge is 75!!??
(just keep mov'in, just keep mov'in...and I too can be just like him some day. Swooshing down the ski slopes, past the punks and wanna bes.)

And speaking of punks...
People are also sometimes base and shady. Duh. But we rarely get these types hiking with us. There are rare exceptions...of course.
Trying to find the good qualities is difficult sometimes. Being with folks that caused me to want to go home and shower afterwards (like after being on the streets of Vegas) is a whole new experience for me. The juxtaposition I felt was amazing. There are some strange and twisted people out there folks....dont we know!!! (to be fair...there was goodness in them...but the worldliness and longing to be noticed overshadowed the light.)

So what I've learned this week:

Money doesnt buy contentment. It can buy a LOT...thats for sure...but not contentment and joy. Truly there are people out there lacking both; and searching for it places and with behaviors that bring anything but the desired results.
Persons holding Phd's can be kind and not aloof; they can be encouraging and not degrading or condescending of those less "smart" than themselves.
You can spend 2 weeks with someone and truly come to love and appreciate them..and cry tears of gratitude for having the opportunity to know them a little.
And you can spend one day with someone...and know that they are bad news. Thank heavens 'bad news' doesnt happen very often.

I like living.I have sometimes been wildly,despairingly, acutely miserable,racked with sorrow,but through it all I still know quite certainlythat just to be alive is a grand thing.~Agatha Christie~

For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.~James Baldwin~

CINHIKERS DELIGHTFUL FAMILY

Mom and Dad/Joe and Pauline/Grandma and Grandpa/ Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

My other Mom and Dad/Bob and Ethel/Grandma and Grandpa/ Great Grandpa and Great Grandma

Rob, Chelsea, Lachlan, Olive, Knox, Jax

Joe, Natalie, Logan, Liam, Beckham and Evelyn

Anna and David Sherwood,Lucie and Benjamin

Clark

Brian and Mericar

The greatest adventureis what lies ahead.Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.The chances, the changesare all yours to make.The mold of your lifeis in your hands to break.

— J.R.R. Tolkien(The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again

Adventure is a path. Real adventure -self-determined,

self-motivated, often risky-forces you to have firsthand

encounters with the world. The world is the way it is,

not the way you imagine it.

-Mark Jenkins

GRANDPARENTING HEAVEN!!

Beckham

Evelyn

Every child is an artist.The problem is how to remainan artist once he grows up.~Pablo Picasso~

Liam

Only as high as I reach can I growOnly as far as I seek can I goOnly as deep as I look can I seeOnly as much as I dream can I be~Karen Ravn~

Logan

All our dreams can come true,if we have the courage to pursue them.~Walt Disney~

Olive

"Far away in the sunshine are myhighest aspirations.I may not reach them, but I can look upand see their beauty, believe in them,and try to follow where they lead"~Louisa May Alcott~